Archives to host open house

The Emery County Archives has a wide variety of items on display including historic photos and books.

Preserving the past and making it accessible to the public for the present and the future is the goal of the Emery County Archives. They will host an open house on April 4, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. The public is welcome to come and see what the Archives has and what they can do for you. Emery County Archives is the answer to the question: "What shall we do with this?" When an older parent or grandparent dies, sometimes the children divide up their papers and photos, and other memorabilia, or throw them out, when they could provide some valuable information to future grandchildren or even the communities. Usually as the family grows and separates, no one knows who has that "picture Mom used to have." When a collection or item is donated to the Archives, it is preserved, and it is always available for copies, research, or loans--such as when someone in the family needs to show an item for a school project, etc. Dottie Grimes is the Archives Administrator. The Archives is open to the public Tuesday-Thursday from Noon until 5 p.m. The phone number is 381-2671. If you need research information or would like to make a donation of historic items to the Archives, at any other time, you may contact Dixie Swasey in the Recorder's Office or you may call 435-749-2565 (Dottie's cell phone).

We assist the public in finding historic information on almost all aspects of this county including personal histories, oral histories, mine disasters, ranching, schools, mills, Manti Forest, outlaws, changes in the landscape, effects of World War II in our area, etc. We have file drawers full of historic information, as well as The Emery County Progress from 1900 to 1996. (Castle Dale Library has the most recent 10 years.) The Emery County Archives website is under construction at this time and will soon have links to many of the photos that have been donated and lists of the histories and collections that are available now at the archives

Donations to the Archives are accepted make a donation to the Archives of anything from documents to clothing. The Archives will make copies of historic documents or photos for you to keep in the family, or we will make a copy for the Archives and give you back the original, if you do not want the Archives to preserve it. They use archival procedures and products to preserve every item. Each item is assigned an accession number with a description of the item(s) donated. The donor is given credit on every item donated. The donor signs a deed of gift, noting any stipulations they may choose. It is then available for anyone to look at and examine or use for research (unless otherwise stipulated by the donor--(such as "public access not allowed until Aunt ... dies.")

"We have a few private collections from individuals that include photos, letters, school books, recipe books, greeting cards, memorabilia of all kinds, and even some vintage clothing. We have storage for photos, magazines, pamphlets, calendars, audio tapes, video tapes, microfilm, personal histories, textiles, and we have a library room to house old books and sets of books. Our Wish List which can become really useful to the present and future generations are donations from residents in our county. Just about anything you might want to donate would be accepted and appreciated. Family collections with documents, memorabilia, etc. Yearbooks from every school in Emery County personal/family histories, diaries/journals/scrapbooks stories or legends in your family of anything related to Castle Valley, including the outlaws, historic magazines, brochures, newspapers, calendars, historic photos of anything pertaining to the Castle Valley area and photos of people from this area," said archivist Grimes, "We appreciate all donations and we welcome everyone to come out to our open house to see what the Archives has to offer."